L
ose 30 lbs. forever! Unsecured platinum card! Start growing younger – today! Smells like spam. Anyone with an e-mail address — and that’s just about everyone these days – is familiar with the scourge of the Internet known as “spam.” Spam, or Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (UCE), shows up in inboxes daily, clogging e-mail systems and costing consumers and businesses $7.5 billion per year, according to some estimates. Unsolicited Commercial E-mail is basically junk mail for your computer, and some e-mail addresses receive upward of 20 pieces a day. With no federal regulations regarding UCE in the United States, that’s 7,280 pieces of mail per year for one person to wade through, discard, or try to opt out of. And if you’re acquainted with the deceitful techniques spammers use, you probably realize just how hard it is to get off their lists. Most people wonder how spammers get their email address in the first place. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t have to visit a pornographic Web site to receive pornographic spam; you just have to surf the Web, visit a chat room, or fill out an online form of some sort. Even if you don’t do any of those things, spammers still obtain e-mail addresses by guessing or by “dictionary spamming” – trying out combinations of common words. Dr. Jason Catlett, president and founder of Junkbusters Corp. (www.junkbusters.com) admits that most casual Internet users have no idea how to adequately protect their e-mail address and their privacy online. “Even the experts have trouble,” he says. “The main problem is that Americans have almost no legal rights over data about them. We need laws that give stronger consumer rights.” Catlett’s Junkbusters site promotes privacy and tells consumers how to get rid of unwanted e-mail, telephone calls and mailed advertisements. In his testimony and written statement before Congress, Catlett calls for a federal “opt-in” standard for commercial e-mail. Currently, 25 states have adopted laws regarding UCE, but these have proven largely ineffective because they allow an “opt-out” standard. Most UCE contains an opt-out message: something along the lines of “You received this email because you are registered at one of our sites. To unsubscribe, reply to this e-mail with the word ‘Unsubscribe’ in the subject line.” The problem with this method is that it still takes up Internet users’ time, money and resources. In addition, many of the e-mail addresses consumers are supposed to reply to are nonexistent — or worse, actually identify active e-mail addresses and sell them to other spammers. An opt-in standard, on the other hand, requires solicitors to confirm that a consumer wants to receive advertisements and offers by e-mail, before an ad is even sent; consumers would receive only commercial e-mails they have an interest in. Most anti-spam groups, notably Junkbusters and Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (CAUCE), advocate the opt-in method. But lobbyists for organizations such as the Direct Marketing Association (DMA) oppose an opt-in standard, because their members would be held accountable for any commercial e-mail sent in error to those who haven’t opted in. However, DMA Vice President of Government Relations, Jim Conway, concedes that marketing to consumers not interested in certain products is a waste of time. “We don’t want to send things to people who don’t want them, because they don’t want to buy,” he says. “The DMA has an elective preference service. Anyone in the U.S. who does not want to receive direct marketing offers can register. It’s very simple.” Simple, perhaps, but a quick trip to the DMA’s consumer assistance Web site (www.dmaconsumers.org/consumerassistance.html) reveals
that it’s free to opt out of telemarketing, direct mail advertisements and UCE by mail — but to do it over the Web, there’s a $5 fee. And opting out is only available for two- or five-year periods, so consumers have to remember to opt out again in the future. The driving force behind the backlash against UCE is the fact that, as of now, responsibility to stop unsolicited e-mail rests on the shoulders of consumers – consumers who didn’t ask for the email in the first place. And many of these consumers — novice Internet users and minors — don’t know how their personal information is being gathered or used. According to an April 4 article on CNET.com, spammers and even legitimate marketers are using new methods embedded in their UCE messages to track users’ every move on the Web. Combating tracking techniques when users aren’t even aware of them is an uphill battle. “The best way is to avoid touching any equipment that uses electricity,” Catlett says, only half joking. “After too much spam, many people change their e-mail addresses or give up the Internet entirely. If people aren’t protected, they won’t participate.” A lack of participation, coupled with ever-present privacy concerns, is hurting e-commerce in a world where users don’t know if products being peddled to them by e-mail are legitimate or not. “We’re getting lumped together with the tawdry spam that comes (to your inbox),” says Conway. “That really hurts our members, because we have legitimate offers.” He lists American Express and L.L. Bean among the DMA’s 5,000 companies that offer legitimate e-mail communications to customers. Another concern when dealing with spam is fraudulent offers. Some UCE advertises illegal pyramid schemes, asks users to make international phone calls to unsubscribe from an e-mail list, or simply advertises products that don’t work. Conway insists that the DMA is determined to stop fraudulent e-mail communications. “It’s really to our benefit, because people get very upset, and rightly so,” he says. But even if users don’t get duped out of their money by buying into e-mail scams, there is a cost for UCE – and it’s borne by the consumer. The time spent reading, deleting or responding to UCE is time that Internet users pay for in connecting to the Internet. And users who check their e-mail by mobile phone, who are often charged a per-word fee, end up paying heavily when spam comes to their inbox. In Europe, where mobile technology is widely used, the backlash from consumers in the form of a two-year campaign prompted the European Union to pass a law last month prohibiting the sending of UCE in the European Union. United States advocates, such as Catlett, are pushing for similar legislation this side of the Atlantic. So far, any legislation regarding UCE has been at the state level. Most states have spam laws similar to California’s, where UCE messages must contain opt-out instructions, contact information and labels indicating that the message is an advertisement. But state-level regulation on UCE brings up the question of jurisdiction. In order for the law to apply in most states, the e-mail must be sent to a resident of the state via a provider’s service or equipment also located in that state. And with forged contact information or a faked point of origin, a single UCE isn’t worth most customers’ or providers’ time spent figuring out whether or not legal action can be pursued. And with spam growing exponentially at a rapid pace — 50 to 80 percent per year, according to an estimate by Catlett — users are reaching a breaking point. “Most people don’t even open their spam,” says Catlett. “It’s an unwelcome intrusion whether they’re pushing pornography or printers.”
19 M E T R O
Protecting
Your Inbox from
Spam
● Avoid displaying your e-mail address on public Web sites or forums. ● If you have a Web page, don’t put your e-mail address in a “click to e-mail” link. ● Get an alternative forwarding e-mail address that includes filters to filter out unwanted mail before it arrives at your inbox. ● Common usernames, such as those which use first and last names, are more susceptible to spam attacks than unusual usernames due to “dictionary spamming” – trying out combinations of common words and names. ● Opt out of online e-mail directories. ● Do not reply to “unsubscribe” or “remove” instructions in UCE; many reply addresses are bogus or are receptacles for collecting active e-mail addresses.
S P I R I T J U L Y 1 1 2 0 0 2